Sunday, August 10, 2014

How a stuffed giraffe almost killed my middle child

Tim had been gone 5 days, and the kids were so excited to see him. We surprised them by having him join me to pick them up from school and take them to Dave and Buster's. Dave and Buster's is basically a Chuck E Cheese style arcade with a bowling alley and pool tables and a bar and a venue. Chuck E Cheese for adults -- but not in a gross way. I had a gift card from a work party, so off we went.

Well, the kids were having a great time running around with Tim while I sat in the booth ordering (and eating) food. Then it was time for Quinn to finally get to try the worst game ever. You know those claw games where you try to move the open claw to grab a stuffed animal and then the claw closes AND YOU GET NOTHING?! Well, this version was the size of a small bedroom and the stuffed animals were huge. Tim finally agreed to let Quinn try --- and guess what? -- all by herself with one try SHE WON a huge giraffe. Great for Quinn! Horrible and life-ruining for depressed little middle-child McKenna. (Lizza just continued dancing around singing and not caring).

Through her tears, Kenna of course assumed that daddy would just win her one next, right? Wrong. Damn game.

So many tears. And the hard part was that both Tim and I could really, really feel her pain. It really wasn't fair; it really did suck.

Well, I finally calmed her down with some chicken tenders and some words of wisdom. And she might have even forgotten about it for a minute (while Tim was still running up a bill across the way at that devil game). She even started playing another game -- and as she sat on a bar stool with legs dangling -- a man walked by and dropped 500 tickets under her little feet. He just kept walking, and I started crying because I knew somehow this would help save the day. 

Eventually we used the mystery tickets to buy Kenna her own stuffed animal at the prize table, and we stopped at a store on the way home to buy Lizza a piece of candy -- which was all that angel wanted.

There is misery in the strangest places.

But where misery goes, so does Grace follow.

It will take years for Kenna to truly see grace chasing her and constantly tying to catch up, but some day she'll feel it. And that will make all the difference.

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